Good news for bus commuters

Tough rules will force buses to run on time and go green
5:00AM Monday February 26, 2007
By Mathew Dearnaley

Bus passengers are being promised sweeping law changes offering them better odds of getting picked up on time, and by clean and safe vehicles.

The Government intends giving the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, and councils elsewhere in New Zealand, wide powers to set standards for all urban bus and ferry services.

The tough new measures will be imposed regardless of whether the services are run commercially or with subsidies from the public purse.

Regional councils will be able to deregister commercial services which fail to keep to their timetables. Ministry of Transport officials are working on an incentive and penalty regime to apply before that happens.